Private space in control
Today it was announced that SpaceX has signed an agreement with NASA’s Stennis Space Center to test a new methane engine there beginning in 2014.
This story is significant in two ways:
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Tag: competition
Boeing has finalized its lease for building its manned capsule in one section of the giant Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center.
Boeing has finalized its lease for building its manned capsule in one section of the giant Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center.
The first Cygnus capsule has been de-orbited, burning up in the atmosphere.
The first Cygnus capsule has been de-orbited, burning up in the atmosphere.
A 100% success. The U.S. now has two different ways to get cargo to low Earth orbit. Soon, if all goes as it should, we shall have multiple ways to put humans there as well.
A civilian jet has set a new world record for circling the globe.
A civilian business jet has set a new world record for circling the globe.
The next Dragon flight has now been scheduled for no earlier than February 11.
The next Dragon flight has now been scheduled for no earlier than February 11.
The next flight of SpaceX’s Dragon has been realigned to a February 11, 2014 NET (No Earlier Than) launch date. The launch will mark Dragon’s first ride on the upgraded Falcon 9 v.1.1 rocket, potentially sporting landing legs, as Elon Musk plans his next attempt at proving the rocket’s ability to return its stages back to Earth for reuse.
SpaceX must first launch two commercial satellites with the upgraded Falcon 9 before its NASA flight. Also, 2014 will be a very business year for the rocket, as it is scheduled to send three cargo missions to ISS plus launch eight commercial satellites.
A new company is now offering balloon flights to the edge of space for one third the price of a suborbital flight.
The competition heats up: A new company is now offering balloon flights to the edge of space for one third the price of a suborbital flight.
World View passengers will soar to an altitude of about 30 kilometers (about 100,000 feet) — far short of SpaceShipTwo’s intended 110-kilometer (68-mile) high peak. Inside the capsule there will be little sensation of microgravity. Rather, the whole point of the ride is the view. “You can be sitting up there having your beverage of choice watching this extraordinary spectacle of the Earth below you and the blackness of space,” project co-founder and Paragon president Jane Poynter told Discovery News. “It really is very gentle. You can be up at altitude for hours, for days for research if you need to be… I think we have the opportunity to give a really, really incredible experience to people — and for a lot less than most of what’s out on the market right now,” she said.
Cygnus has undocked from ISS and will be de-orbited tomorrow.
Cygnus has undocked from ISS and will be de-orbited tomorrow.
The first free flying glide test of the Dream Chaser test vehicle is only days away.
The first free flying glide test of the Dream Chaser test vehicle is only days away.
The test had been delayed because of the government shutdown.
Want a rocket to launch your satellite into orbit. Orbital Sciences has one.
Want a rocket to launch your satellite into orbit. Orbital Sciences has one.
The article essentially outlines the marketing push Orbital is doing to get additional commercial contracts for its Antares rocket.
More people have applied to live on Mars than have signed up for Obamacare.
The Twitter comment of the day: “More people have applied to live on Mars than have signed up for Obamacare.”
I almost never look at Twitter comments, but this one was too good to pass up.
The next test flight of a version of SpaceX’s Grasshopper could occur in New Mexico in December.
The next test flight of a version of SpaceX’s Grasshopper could occur in New Mexico in December.
The story says this test will be with Grasshopper, but I think that is a mistake. Unless SpaceX is using this name for all its vertical landing test vehicles, the company had said the test vehicle to fly in New Mexico would be a full scale Falcon 9 first stage, with nine Merlin engines, not one as has Grasshopper.
Cygnus will be de-orbited one day early, on October 23.
Cygnus will be de-orbited one day early, on October 23.
At the same time, preparations move forward for the second Cygnus flight in December, which will be the first operational flight. This quote is interesting:
Neither Orbital nor the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority got locked out of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport as a result of the shutdown, meaning that preparations for the tentative December launch continued while more than 95 percent of NASA’s roughly 18,000 civil servants were on furlough.
Suggests again how unessential a good percentage of NASA’s employees really are. They might be great engineers, but they are apparently wasting their talents at NASA doing unnecessary make-work.